Bringing It All Back Home Review

Release Date: Mar 22, 1965Label: ColumbiaGenres: Political Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Folk-Rock, Album Rock, Contemporary Folk, Pop/Rock, Blues-Rock, Rock & RollNumber Of Tracks: 11
With Bringing It All Back Home, he exploded the boundaries, producing an album of boundless imagination and skill.

Bringing It All Back Home
Reviewed by:
RedMoonMan, on september 10, 2007 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sound: This album is an early Bob Dylan album from '67 so it still has a lot of that folk root in the guitar patterns and strumming that the '60s have become known for. The guitar is a mix of some very raw acoustic playing and some simple back up instruments playing including an electric guitar back up which is a first for Dylan on this album. Bob's voice compliments every aspect of the music perfectly like a match made in heaven. The sound over the entire album is a sort of aggressiveness toward the listener. // 9

Lyrics: I can simply say that the lyrics of this entire album could be the soundtrack of the '60. The lyrics are that which inspire a man to go out and break free from the rest. They are nothing short of genius, but what else could we expect from Dylan but genius? The way the lyrics are put across by Dylan sort of seem to say "f--k you" to everyone. These albums words would lead up to a fear of communism in Dylan from many people because of the harsh way he speaks of the government. // 10

Overall Impression: Overall this album was a lot of firsts for Dylan and they all added up well together making an overall great sound and exuding a great message to it's listeners. Many of Dylan's bests came from this album such as Subterranean Homesick Blues, Maggie's Farm, Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, Mr. Tambourine Man, It's Alright Ma, and It's All Over Now Baby Blue. That's almost the entire album too. What isn't to love about this album it is the utmost amount of raw emotion possible to have? The only downfall possible to be thought of one this album is the simplistic music in the background but it just adds so much more to the album by not over doing it. // 10

Bringing It All Back Home
Reviewed by:
Kratos Aurion, on november 01, 2007 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sound: The first tone we hear on "Bringing It All Back Home" offers nothing new: the rough, harsh-played acoustic rhytm guitar, played by Bob himself. Only a few seconds later, however, an electric lead guitar joins, a synthesis, which not only featured on none of Dylan's albums before but on no other album by any artist. What follows is a high tempo outburst of absurd poetry and driving R'n B: "Subtarrenean Homesick Blues" the opening song of "Bringing It All Back Home", an opening song that leaves you breathless, due to it's almost ridiculous pace, volume and absurdity. This is basically the recipe for the first side of "Bringing It All Back Home": an acoustic guitar playing simple folk and blues patterns in ligthning speed and an electric backing band playing loud r n' b. The results are songs that are loud, funny, caustic and powerful. The only exception are the ballads "She Belongs To Me" and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit". They are, however, not partcularily emotional but played in a very causual way, similar to the Rocksongs. The second half of the album contains only acoustic songs, which show a more familiar Dylan: harsh rhytmguitar playing and great vocal melodies, all of these songs are among his best. They are very serious and emotional unlike the rocksongs. // 10

Lyrics: Dylan has already shown on "Another Side Of..." that he didn't felt comfortable with the older protest lyrics. Instead he started writing absurd-surreal poems, which basically were the lyrics for his best years (65-66). Many results are more than satisfying: the lyrics of these albums are simply amazing and often philosophical, almost every song of "Bringing It All Back Home" offers some nihilistic lines (Nietzsche would have been proud of many of them). // 10

Overall Impression: There are times in the history of pop music, when an artist, regardless of the quality of his music, releases something never heard before. "The beginning of a new era" unleashed by the release of a record. There are lots of well-known examples: The Sex Pistols "Anarchy In The UK", Radioheads "OK Computer" or Pink Floyds "Dark Side Of The Moon". All of these records were responisble for a change of direction in the current music scene. None of them, however, was nearly as important as Bob Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home," regardless of the quality of the music. The reason for this is as simple as logic: It is the album the contains the most "the first album that." So here's a list of all "firsts" in "Bringing It All Back Home", that changed pop music forever. "Bringing It All Back Home" is the first "real" album in (pop)music history. Just look at what was released before and after "Bringing It All Back Home": before 1965 there was no outstanding album at all, only hardcore-fans will be able to listen to a studioalbum of Frank Sinatra, Little Richard or Johnny Cash without having to skip any song or getting the feel to get bored by the album, singles were the prefered medium. But after the release of "Bringing It All Back Home" other artist would soon lay more focus on producing albums, the Beatles with "Rubber Soul" and later the Rolling Stones with "Beggar's Banquet" (only naming the most popular examples). "Bringing It All Back Home" was the first album "in pop" that can really be considered outstanding. Dylan already before filled his albums with fine songs instead of focusing on singles - but these albums can't really be considered "Pop"-recordings.
The first record in (pop)music history that can be taken serious from an artistical point of view. Records released before where basically very simple in terms of content: "I wanna hold your hand" or "I wanna be your man," of course anyone can write lyrics like that, straightforward and highly naive. But "Bringing It All Back Home" is as far away from naivit as can be. The meaning of songs like "Subterrenean Homesick Blues" or "Gates Of Eden" are much debated, even today. the first (pop)album that combined acoustic and electric instruments. Yes, this is by far the most important "first" in this list, because it was never done before but endlessly done after the release. the first (pop)album without any moral. Sounds quite strange, we're talking about the "spokesman of a generation", after all. But "Bringing It All Back Home" is an album full of nihilistic sentences and songs, which is a significant influence to many songs of the Beatles and The Velvet Underground, and thus basically to any punkrock group and most modern rock'n roll groups as well. // 10

Bringing It All Back Home
Reviewed by:
A Rolling Stone, on january 21, 2009 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Sound: Bringing it All Back Home is Bob Dylan's 5th studio album to be released and is his first album to feature a backing band, complete with electric instrumentation. It was released in 1965. All songs were written Bob Dylan. Critics hailed it as a "breakaway" album for Dylan, who had been shifting away from his solo acoustic folk and protest songs and now had completely immersed himself in this new electric style of playing. It is now considered one of the best and most influential albums of all time, ranking 31st on Rolling Stone's countdown list of the 500 best albums. At the time, Dylan lost many of his folk traditionalist fans. However, he also gained a new array of fans the loved his new sound. Many of the lyrics on the album actually dealt directly with the issue of him leaving his cozy folk community friends. The original LPs two sides were the "electric" side (with 7 tracks), and the "acoustic" side (with 4 especially lengthy tracks.) so rather than doing the usual song-by-song evaluation, I will review this album in those two sections, that is, electric and acoustic. // 10

Lyrics: The Electric Side:
The opening track is really what gets you hooked on this album. Subterranean Homesick Blues is a short and sweet little tune that is really one riproarin' trip. By listening to the first few tracks on this side you can definetely tell that Dylan wasn't going to back to his old ways anytime soon! The nasally voice that we have all come to love is present with authority on this side. On a few of the faster tunes it seems like he almost runs out of breath completely! However, in my opinion a few of the songs off this side should have been categorized on the acoustic side (if time would've allowed it.) Those songs are Love Minus Zero/ No Limit and She Belongs to Me. The electric sounds are definetely there, but they don't really stand out. However, since this was 1965 we're talking about, I guess that those songs were considered profoundly electric at the time, which I can understand. In these electric songs you can also tell that Dylan was beginning to write in a "surreal" kind of style also. In non-sense songs like On the Road Again and Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, this becomes apparent to say the least. This side (obviously) features some very good guitar parts also, particularly in Subterranean Homesick Blues and Maggies Farm. If you want a taste of Dylan's early electric stuff, than it doesn't get any earlier than this.
The Acoustic Side:
And now for the acoustic side. Though it may seem quiet a bit shorter, that is not the case. There are only four tracks, but they are very lengthy and exceptionally exquisite in my opinion. This was the side that traditional Dylan fans (and myself) preferred. I have nothing against the first side, but in my opinion these four songs are some of Dylan's finest work during the 60s. Introducing the side is the very popular Mr. Tambourine Man. The subject matter in this song is subject to interpretation to say the least. Though there is some electric instruments on this track, they are not very noticable at all (that's the reason it is on this side, after all! ) This side also contains one of Dylan's long, fast attacks on... well, on pretty much everything! And that song is it's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding.) By far my favorite song off this album, it is also one of my favorite songs of all time. Gates of Eden is my least favorite off this side, but is by no means a bad or unengaging effort. It relates quite heavily to the ideas presented in Mr. Tambourine Man and Chimes of Freedom, the latter of the two being on his previous album. The album comes to a very melancholy end with a masterpiece called it's All Over Now, Baby Blue. This song is another one of my favorites from this album. Though it seems like a goodbye to a long-lost lover, I think that it is really a goodbye to his former songwriting techniques and his old folk music ways. It is a fitting end to what is truly a musical and creative revelation. // 9

Overall Impression: To me, this album is the album that said, "Hey! I'm changing for the better and if you don't like that, then you can suck it!" Dylan went into a totally new direction and he really never looked back. Both critics and myself hail this album as a masterpiece that really set the standard for a new genre, folk-rock (with a hint of pop.) The lyrics are amazingly powerful in some cases, and undeniably strange in other cases. They music itself is also something to marvel at with the pocket drumming, awesome harmonica, roarin' electric guitar and a constant underlying acoustic pattern to keep it all together. All in all this is album is a must-have for anybody, Dylan fan or not. It really brings it all back home. A solid 9.5/10 for me!
Peace. // 10

yep, this album has some of his best lyrics. The second one does seem to say that BIABH was the first album ever to feature electric guitars, which of course isn't true. Otherwise good reviews though criticizing your government does not make one a communist and communism itself is far from intrinsically evil.

yep, this album has some of his best lyrics. The second one does seem to say that BIABH was the first album ever to feature electric guitars, which of course isn't true. Otherwise good reviews though criticizing your government does not make one a communist and communism itself is far from intrinsically evil.

What it means is not "the first album ever to feature electric guitar". It means the album ever to feature both acoustic and electric playing in unison and playing together to tell a story. More like Electric guitar improvising along the acoustic guitar. And this is quite true actually, because after 1965, that became the medium in pop music.